Across 110th Street!

"Across 110th Street"--gritty, violent, cynical--is among the best of the black movie genre of the 1970s. In fact, with its unrelenting nature, documentary-style camera work and explosive performances, "110th Street" deserves a place among other set-in-NYC classics of the day, including "Taxi Driver," "Mean Streets," "Report to the Commissioner" and others.

Released in 1972, the movie stars Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn as two detectives at odds as they attempt to solve the fatal robbery of a Mafia count room in Harlem. But the powerful supporting cast of black character actors such as Paul Benjamin, Ed Bernard, Norma Donaldson and the gravelly-voiced Richard Ward--especially Ward---carry the film. Tony Franciosa also does fine work as the dimwitted, but violent mob hood who is in pursuit of the robbers.

The movie is brilliantly acted--the speech Paul Benjamin's character delivers in his rundown basement apartment is Oscar-worthy, if you ask me---bleak and pointed. And Bobby Womack kills on the theme song.

Cross Promotion, 1969

An amazing find from '69: an ad campaign for Cold Power washing powder and the Godfather of Soul. If you sent in proof of purchase, the good people at Cold Power laundry detergent would send you a 45 record of "Our World" by JB.

That makes sense. Cold Power--the least effective washing powder I can think of--and James Brown were both responsible for a great deal of funk in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A DJ Saved My Life.

The Soul Closet kicks shut this week in typical fashion: with a dance music video. Today we bring Indeep's 1982 landmark jam "Last Night a DJ Saved my Life." Indeep was composed of female singers Reggie and Rose Marie Ramsey, with producer Mike Cleveland supplying the male rap.

The song's bassline, hook and title have sampled and borrowed by an array of R&B/Hip Hop acts, including Mariah Carey and Busta Rhymes. But here is the original. And after almost 30 years, it still sounds good.

In Living Color

Check out this clip from the 1990s sketch comedy show "In Living Color."

In the Heat of the Night

I never liked "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" starring Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy. It's preachy...stilted--and doesn't hold up well today. No, Sir. For my money, Sidney Poitier's best work from that era (other than the seldom-seen, but powerful "Brother John") is 1967's "In the Heat of the Night." Poitier is tightly-coiled and cool as a Philadelphia police detective forced help a sheriff, played by Rod Steiger, solve a crime in a racist southern town. And the above scene is one of my favorites.

The Mighty Quinn

"The Mighty Quinn" is a clever little movie from early 1989 that was among the first flicks to show the true star power of Denzel Washington ("Glory" was released later that year). Denzel plays Xavier Quinn, the police chief of an unnamed Caribbean island, who has a whodunit on his hands--and his boyhood friend Maubee (Robert Townsend) at the center of it.

It's a laid-back movie, awash in color and great music. Cast includes Sheryl Lee Ralph, Esther Rolle, Art Evans, M Emmet Walsh, Mimi Rogers and the beautiful Maria McDonald in a small, but memorable role as the mischievous Jax.

...As I think about it: Whatever happened to Maria McDonald? Great voice, strikingly fine face and not a bad actress. After "The Mighty Quinn," imdb.com shows her in the made-for-tv movie "The Marla Hanson Story" from 1991, and that's it. If you've got about 50 minutes to kill, check her out in this 1987 episode of "Miami Vice."

Soul for Sister Shirley

The Soul Closet opens the week with a little respect for the great unbossed and unbought Shirley Chisholm, who, in 1968, was the first black woman elected to Congress, and the first black person to run for president under a major political party. She died in 2005 at age 80.

Twennynine, featuring Lenny White

Back in '79, '80, '81--the hip thing was for a jazz cat to make a R&B/Soul album. Jazz drummer Lenny White's album, Best of Friends, pictured here is an overlooked jewel of the era. Lenny's in the white tie, I should add. The tune that got the radio play was the silly, but fun "Peanut Butter." But don't sleep on the title cut, a mellow cut with strings and strong vocals. You can go here to listen to cuts from the album.

Drop Squad: The Gospel Pak

The critics panned "Drop Squad" when it was released in 1994. The move was about a shadowy band of Brothers (led by Vondie Curtis-Hall and Ving Rhames) who kidnap and deprogram a "sell-out" black advertising exec played by Eriq LaSalle. "Drop Squad" should have been a razor-sharp satire through-and-though (like the brilliant "Fear of a Black Hat"). Instead it often got bogged down, preachy and heavy-handed.

Some parts are inspired, though, such as the clip above: a fast-food commercial produced by the company for which LaSalle's character works. This was high parody in 1994. Not so much today. Shoot, I bet if this commercial aired during "House of Payne" nobody would even notice.

Odyssey

Here is the music video for the 1982 hit "Inside Out" by the vocal group Odyssey. The dancers leaping through the clouds in a nice touch. And by the way, if the song sounds a lot like "Watching You" by Slave, there are a few good reasons: Slave's producer Jimmy Douglass was behind this song, and Slave's Mark Adams is handling the bass.

Ebony Magazine Fashions, 1970

We bring a little style to the Soul Closet today with these offerings from the early 1970s pages of Ebony magazine. We begin with the above outfit, worn by the wife of a prominent Ohio businessman, according to the caption. It doesn't say what kind of business he was in, but my guess? Fur trapper.



The caption for the above outfit said, "The hip, together, modern woman definitely intends to do her own thing.." This is a design by Maurice Rentner and features "the hippest of beige felt hats and beige above the knee boots that are just too much!" Rentner died in 1958 and his design house later merged with that of his sister and in late 1970 became better known as Bill Blass.



The original caption said this Pauline Trigere design is "a freedom loving black coat with plaid color squares." Power to the people.

Soul Double Feature

I was flipping through Comcast OnDemand last weekend and stumbled across two near gems. The first, "Buck and the Preacher" is a pretty good 1972 western starring Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte as a pair of post Civil War outlaws trying to defeat The Man while protecting a group of black settlers looking to move west. It's Poitier's first outing as director and he does well. Belafonte steals the movie as a comically-scheming preacher (who looks like a early Howard Hewitt). The coolest scenes: Belafonte, Poitier and the great Ruby Dee tearing across the desert on horseback; and Poitier gunning own a room full of bad guys in a burst of Sergio Leone-style violence (seen in the trailer above) They should have made a sequel.

The other movie is "Together Brothers" from 1974, a long-forgotten, ultra low-budget flick filmed in Galveston, TX. In it, a group of poor urban kids try to solve a murder. Sounds as square as the "Bloodhound Gang" and the movie drags on a bit, especially in the middle.

In fact, I was about to turn away when just after the half-way point, "Together Brothers" finds its groove and--so help me, y'all--turns into a convincing thriller, with shades of greatness. There is a surprising and poignant performance by Lincoln Kilpatrick who died a few years ago and was a fixture on screen and TV, including "Soylent Green" and "Uptown Saturday Night."

"Together Brothers" hasn't made it to DVD, so I have no clips to show, but check it out on On-Demand if you have it. Meanwhile, I will leave you with a little something: Barry White (a Galveston native son) and his Love Unlimited Orchestra did the movie's funky, urgent score. Decades later, the Quad City DJs would sample the "Together Brothers" theme to create "C'mon Ride the Train." Hear Barry's original here. And the Quad City DJs' here.

..in other words, "Baby, You Stank."

That's what he's really saying. His eyes are set, his collar is turned up and he ain't smiling. In fact, she must really stink because look closely: He's dressed for cooler weather. Which means she also has a coat on, too. And yet he can still smell her. So they're walking to the store, or coming out of the furniture shop and he turns to her all of a sudden and drops the bomb.

Trouble is, it's an ad for Ban Roll-On. So Brother, if she uses it, she's still going to stank.

Vanessa Williams

We crack open the Soul Closet today with this 1988 dance hit by Vanessa Williams. Just four years earlier, folks were reading the last rites over her career in the wake of her having to give up her Miss America crown when those nudie pix got released.

But this video marks the beginning of her second coming as entertainment force. Between then and now, she's starred and co-starred in major motion pictures, hit TV shows, and has been a presence on the pop music charts. Shoot, the girl has even sung with Pavarotti.

And--as this video shows--she can also Cabbage Patch down a flight of stairs like nobody's business.

The SOS Band

The Soul Closet ends the week with this 1980 jam from the SOS Band, "Take Your Time (Do it Right)." The sneaky and insistent bassline and great vocals by Mary Davis--who possesses one of the most unique voices in R&B--make this cut memorable. So here they are, on "Solid Gold" (remember that show?) from 1980. Enjoy.

Hoopty -n-waiting

Look at this. Everybody is trying to get you to buy this 1993 Mercury Tracer. Your girlfriend in the top center square--doing somebody's hair--is saying "you'll look good in it." Grandpa wants you get something comfortable. Look at the cheap ass brother on the bottom row who thinks air conditioning is free.

Trust me: The tow truck ain't free. And when this car broke down at 11pm on 23rd and Lake Shore Drive in the winter of 1994, none of these people were available to help.

The Electric Company v.1

I noticed PBS has begun airing a remake of the classic 1970s educational show, The Electric Company. So I watched a bit of the new show and it wasn't bad, actually. Needless to say, it got me to thinking about the original which featured folks like Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, and that Soul Brother who played Easy Reader.

So dig the above clip of a really young Irene Cara with that stone fox Lee Chamberlin. And let me say this: I had a mad, mad crush on Lee Chamberlin when I was a kid watching this show. She was tall, fine, funny and--like me--had a gap in her front teeth. Not to mention she had a great first name and that Afro, which I am digging, even as I watch this clip. Turn it on, Baby. Bring ME the power!

The Pimpware Came C.O.D.

Footwear 1971, from Flagg Brothers. For my money, the Spat Boot and the Dorset were what all the discerning macks-in-training and hustlers-on-the-rise were wearing that year.

Inauguration Day: America's First Black President

Frankly, I'm surprised this 1972 movie isn't being referenced these days. "The Man," stars James Earl Jones as Douglass Dilman, a U.S senator who becomes the country's first black president.

But even in the movies back then, it was impossible for a black man to be flat-out elected president. Senator Dilman, president of the senate, gots the nod after a building collapse killed the president and the speaker of the house--and the vice president declined because he's too old.

"The Man" was made for ABC-TV, but had a theatrical run before heading to television. Jones talked about the movie a little earlier this month in the LA Times. "I have misgivings about that one," he said of the film. "It was done as a TV special. Had we known it was to be released as a motion picture, we would have asked for more time and more production money. I regret that."

Truck Turner: Addendum (rated R dialogue and MAJOR spoiler)

In my "Truck Turner" post from a few days ago, I should have also mentioned the movie's ultimate scene stealer: Nichelle Nichols who plays Dorinda the scorned and possibly psychotic madam who puts a hit out on Truck (played by Isaac Hayes.) You'll know Nichols as gentle Lt. Uhura in the old "Star Trek" tv show.

She's anything but that in "Truck Turner."

Click on the above video of various clips of Ms Nichols performance in the movie. See just how strong her pimp hand is. But be warned: Nichelle's language is foul. (But that woman could fill out a dress...and that white satin midriff-revealing pants suit thang.)